They were confident, but never overconfident.
The Neumann-Goretti High School baseball team knew it had a real shot of doing something special during the 2024 season. With a roster loaded with talented seniors and a group that was willing to work, the Saints knew a state championship was within reach. But they also knew they still had to work for it.
On June 14, it all came to fruition. Neumann-Goretti defeated Avonworth, 12-0, in the PIAA Class 3A state championship game at Penn State University to claim its third state title in school history and its first in seven years.
“This senior class was a special group of kids,” Saints coach Nick Nardini said. “They deserved to go out the way they did. They really just played incredible down the stretch. We had a great season in general but to play that well was very fun and really easy to coach.”
The Saints finished their year 21-6, winning their final five games, which included a 13-2 District 12 championship over Julia R Masterman. They followed that with four straight wins in the state tournament in which the Saints outscored their opponents, 32-3.
“It’s an amazing feeling,” senior second baseman Billy Smith said. “Getting the job done finally was awesome. I think we all thought we were going to get one (championship) or the other this year. Getting both would have been awesome, but getting one is pretty great.”
Neumann-Goretti was denied a Catholic League championship on May 25, when it suffered a 4-1 loss to La Salle. The Saints banked that experience and used it for motivation in the state tournament.
“We talked about how we know how that feels,” Smith said. “We know how a game can speed up on us. We looked around that day and it was the sixth inning and we were losing. We tried our best to not let that happen again in the state championship.”
For three innings, it was eerily similar. Neumann-Goretti had only one hit the first time through the lineup but they had the perfect countermeasure with senior ace Jayce Park, an Old Dominion University commit, who kept the Avonworth bats quiet. It was only a matter of time before the Saints found their spark. And in the bottom of the fourth inning, it finally happened. Bases-loaded walks by Chris Meitzler, Smith and Anthony Coppola trickled in the first three runs of the game and set the stage for Rutgers University commit Evan McCoach to supply some major damage. McCoach cleared the bases with a double to deep center field to extend the Saints’ lead to six.
“That one took (Avonworth’s) heart out of it,” Nardini said. “We talk about if we can get a two-out RBI every game, it’s such a big momentum booster. When he hit that ball, we were like, ‘Here we go. They’re not catching that one.’ He blew the place up with that swing.”
Red-hot senior Christian Cerone, who went 6-for-9 in the state playoffs, brought in McCoach with an RBI single to complete a seven-run fourth inning. A game that looked like it had extra-innings potential was suddenly in danger of a game-shortening 10-run mercy rule.
Park didn’t know it was his last inning at the time, but he cruised through the top of the fifth inning to complete a 75-pitch one-hitter with eight strikeouts. The Saints’ bats sealed the game in the bottom of the frame as Coppola singled with the bases loaded to make it 8-0. Andrew Dankanich followed with a shot to left field that hit the foul pole for a walk-off grand slam.
Game over. Trophy time.
“I still don’t really believe it,” said Dankanich, who celebrated his second consecutive walk-off grand slam. “I blacked out. I don’t remember much of it. I do remember the swing and I remember throwing my helmet off and jumping in with my friends at home plate. Everything in between is all a blur.”
The memories of winning a state championship will be anything but a blur. Neumann-Goretti had a dozen seniors on its roster that will walk away as state champs.
“I’m just going to remember being with my boys every day,” Smith said. “This senior class has been amazing these past four years. We took these young guys under our wings and I love every one of them. Just being with my friends is going to be my greatest memory.”
A three-and-a-half-hour bus ride home to South Philly was only the beginning of the celebration. They now share a piece of history they can confidently carry with them for the rest of their lives.
“We knew if we played our game, no one could beat us,” Dankanich said. “We just really tried to stay within ourselves.”
A new shiny prize will look great in the school’s trophy case. But the rewards go much deeper for the players and coaches in Neumann-Goretti’s baseball program.
“Success for me is I get to show up every day, excited to be there,” Nardini said. “The kids are excited to be there. They love hanging with each other and practicing hard and they love competing together. They’ve become better players, better people, better leaders, better men. That’s what success means for me. There’s nothing more special than that.”
